South Port Master Plan

A new, sustainable employment area on Toronto’s waterfront

Brook McIlroy was retained by CreateTO to develop a Master Plan for a new employment area in South Port as part of the larger Port Lands redevelopment and the Don Mouth Naturalization project. This brownfield revitalization presents an opportunity to create a new type of intensified and diversified employment area that is appropriate to its location on the waterfront and in proximity to downtown Toronto.

The South Port Master Plan proposes a flexible framework for redevelopment of this high-profile site, with a focus on compatibility of uses and users. The intensified employment area maintains an industrial feel and is balanced with soft and naturalized green infrastructure and publicly-accessible open spaces to welcome a variety of users and visitors to the site. While significant truck traffic is expected into the long term, multi-modal access is encouraged through new safe and attractive pathways and connections. Both public and private uses complement the existing working port and transition to other diverse mixed uses elsewhere in the Port Lands.

Our team of urban designers, planners and landscape architects — supported by consultants specializing in transportation, servicing, and compatibility — worked closely with CreateTO and other City of Toronto agencies to develop a realistic plan with many possibilities for phased implementation having minimal impact on ongoing operations. Extensive consultation with the City ensured that the recommendations were needs-based and realistic from a cost and delivery perspective.

The Master Plan incorporates best-practice in streetscape design and stormwater management, and includes extensive blue-green infrastructure and open spaces that will be functional and biodiverse. An approximately 5-acre publicly-accessible green space and wetland, the Don Greenway South, stitches together green networks and habitat corridors while allowing public access to a new Waterfront Promenade. Landscape elements also act as a buffer to screen nearby industrial activities and truck traffic.

Since completion of the South Port Master Plan, Brook McIlroy has continued to engage with CreateTO to explore the reconfiguration of the site in further detail, for which work is presently ongoing